Re: [stella] Driving controller multitap

If you are willing to have such a complex Y-cable setup anyway,
it might be worth a thought to go the full distance and design
a VCS multitap with four (or more) complete controller ports
instead. The directional inputs on the VCS controller ports can
be set to output as well, so you can have the complete left
controller port for input and use the right controller port to
select which of the multitap ports gets mapped to the VCS for
example.

That sounds like it would work, at least for digital controllers, although
it would take more time to sample the pins that way than it does just to
rewire controllers to use up all the existing unused signals.

You see, with the one successful Y-cable I made, or the footpedal, it's
highly passive and not much of a crutch for the VCS. It's really a matter
of letting the 2600 use its latent abilities that were heretofore unused
for all these years. With a true multitap it's a more active piece of
electronics that is interfacing with the 2600 like a peripheral. I guess
it's no worse than the process of reading the keyboard controllers.